Puzzle Corner

[Doramius]

How do you get an Elephant into a mail slot?
--
Hint: Take the 'D' out of DAY, and the 'F' out of WAY.
--
Pay attention to the hint and figure it out aloud if it helps.

[gll99]

daamon

As for the lying (or not) native - I give up. Post the answer as and when you want to... But, I will hunt you down...

Just so you know I live in Canada but tonight I am leaving for a large remote island. Even if you find it you can only land on the opposite side of the island so you will have to take the road that leads to town if you want to find me. Unfortunately there is a fork in the road and there are 2 types of natives and .................. :P

[northcat_8]

Who owns the Zebra?
Based on the clues listed below

============================
There are five houses.
Each house has its own unique color.
All house owners are of different nationalities.
They all have different pets.
They all drink different drinks.
They all smoke different cigarettes.


The English man lives in the red house.
The Swede has a dog.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the left side of the white house.
They drink coffee in the green house.
The man who smokes Pall Mall has birds.
In the yellow house they smoke Dunhill.
In the middle house they drink milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives in the house next to the house with cats.
In the house next to the house where they have a horse, they smoke Dunhill.
The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
They drink water in the house next to the house where they smoke Blend.
So, who owns the Zebra?
==============================

My process - First step marked in yellow.

First step – kill off everything we know directly from what the list tells us.
1st house = Norwegian, also tells us that houses 2,3,4,5 are NOT norwegian
2nd house = Blue, also tells us that houses 1,3,4,5 are NOT blue
3rd house = milk, also tells us that houses 1,2,4,5 do not drink milk



2nd step marked in green

Second step – eliminate things that first step told us or conflicts with rest of list
Green house drinks coffee = blue house does not drink coffee.
Swede has a dog = Norwegian does not have a dog
Dane drinks tea = Norwegian does not drink tea
Green house drinks coffee = middle house not green because it drinks milk
Smoke Blue Masters drink beer = middle house does not smoke blue master
Yellow house smokes Dunhill = 2nd house not smoke Dunhill
German smokes Prince = Norwegian does not smoke Prince
English live in a red house = 1st house not red
Dane drinks tea = Dane does not live in middle house
English live in a red house = English does not live in 2nd house

Now this is where it gets tricky –
The one clue that is critical is “The green house is left of the WHITE house”
~this means the far left house cannot be white and;
~means the house on the far right cannot be green
Now that might not seem that important, but it lowers the possible colors of the 1st house down to yellow or green.
And makes either the 1st or 4th house green.
If the first house is green then houses 3,4,5 could all be white, but if house #1 is yellow, that makes house #4 green and makes house #5 white and therefore house #3 red.
This second option, seems like the better place for the green house since since that would leave us with 3,4,5 could still possibly be red, white or yellow if #1 was green. So….

~let’s check it out…..
If house #4 is green, then:



Step 3 - marked in BLUE

~1st house is yellow = smokes Dunhill
~house next to house with horse smokes dunhill = 2nd house has a horse
~since swede has a dog, swede does not live in #2
~Green house left of white house = 5th house white and 3rd house red.
~english lives in 3rd house
~since the swede does not live in the 3rd house, the 3rd house does not have a dog
~OK, now stay with me here….
Since #1 smokes Dunhill, that means it does not smoke Blue Master, which means #1 does not drink Beer, which eliminates all drinks except water.
Since #1 drinks water, house #2 must smoke Blends.
Since #2 smokes blends, the german does not live there, leaving just the Dane in house #2, and the Dane drinks tea.
Now Drinks are:
#1 – water
#2 – tea
#3 – milk
#4 – coffee
#5 – beer

Since #5 drinks beer, it also smokes Blue Master

OK, now we are down to nut crunchin time….marked in RED

Since the german could live in house 4 or 5, we have to remember that he smokes Prince…house #5 smokes blue master (because he drinks beer)…therefore, house #4 has to be the german and he smokes Prince.

With the german in house 4, putting the swede in house 5, house 5 also has the dog.
Pal Mal are smoked in house #3, and has the birds.
And finally we are down to cats or zebra in house #1 and #4….
~smoke blends lives in the house next to the house with cats….house #2 smokes blends, therefore house #1 has the cats and house #4 has the ZEBRA. 8)

If you make the first house green and run through the rest of the problem you end up not being able to seperate the last 3 houses, everything could be possible in more than one way...like the "Smoke Blends lives in the house next 2 house with cats"...well making house #1 green leave 2 houses that could have cats, where as #4 being green does not.

I don't know if it's right, I didn't look it up but my result fits all 15 descriptions...so I think it's right.

And I appologize if I stated the same step more than once, I pretty much wrote it like I thought it.

[gll99]

northcat_8 solved the puzzle Who owns the zebra.
My explanations might have been different but the results are the same.
Congratulations!

To anyone who is working on it... keep going! Knowing the final result does not help in solving the problem. Proving the solution is what is needed so just don't look at northcat_8 method. Do it yourself and then compare the results.

[flaninacupboard]

walk up to your native, ask "which way to the village?" and see where he points. then kick him in the nuts and ask "did that hurt?" you'll have your answer. alternatively, just sit next to him, he'll have to go home before nightfall anyway.

[daamon]

Just so you know I live in Canada but tonight I am leaving for a large remote island. Even if you find it you can only land on the opposite side of the island so you will have to take the road that leads to town if you want to find me. Unfortunately there is a fork in the road and there are 2 types of natives and .................. :P

LOL - I like your style... You can run, but you can't hide - especially as my fellow countyman, flaninacupboard, has provided an entertaining solution (nicely done - the kind of approach Mr Izzard might suggest...), allowing me acces to your hideout in the natives village...

[daamon]

How do you get an Elephant into a mail slot?
--
Hint: Take the 'D' out of DAY, and the 'F' out of WAY.
--
Pay attention to the hint and figure it out aloud if it helps.

A bit like the birthday cards that read: Happy Birthday. Question: Where does the letter F appear in the word "PRESENT"....? With the response "CORRECT!" inside after they've answered the question.

[flaninacupboard]

that's weird, a friend of mine said last night i was talking like eddie izzard. oh wait a minute...... i AM eddie izzard? yeessss.

no no no.



a-haha!


no, s'just a joke.




no i am! really!


no, no. not true. all lies.


(apologies to those who have no clue what i'm going on about!)

[daamon]

northcat_8 solved the puzzle Who owns the zebra.

I took a similar approach to northcat_8 - but used a matrix instead (see pic), and got the following:

House 1: Yellow, Norwegian, Cats, Water, Dunhill
House 2: Blue, Dane, Horse, Tea, Blend
House 3: Red, English, Birds, Milk, Pall Mall
House 4: Green, German, ZEBRA, Coffee, Prince
House 5: White, Swede, Dog, Beer, Blue Master

It's a case of tick what you know, and enter crosses horizontally and vertically where there's a tick. The trick is, once this is done, to re-read the clues and then deduce something new, enter that into the matrix (neo?) then re-evaluate. Every now and again you'll hit upon something that will allow you to deduce a lot.

[daamon]

that's weird, a friend of mine said last night i was talking like eddie izzard. oh wait a minute...... i AM eddie izzard?
(apologies to those who have no clue what i'm going on about!)

This may elaborate a little...



...a very intelligent and witty cross-dressing English stand-up comedian who describes himself as "a man trapped in a woman's body" (or something like that...).

Well worth going to see a show if you get the chance...

[SquirrelDip]

LOL... Don't know if this is where you're heading with the "Large Hands" but I'll guess 1024 (or 2^10). Gotta have pretty good dexterity though...

The classic (wrong) answer - close, but no cigar.

EDIT: Right thinking, but its 2^10-1 = 1023. 2^10 in binary is 10000000000, i.e. 1 with 10 zeros - 11 digits, but you only have 10 digits - I hope! - So the max is 1111111111 (10 1's - represented by all 10 fingers up), being 1 less than 2^10. Hence 2^10-1.

Very interesting - I'm not going to argue against that point.

Think about this: It would be normal to think, that if you held up both hands with no finger extended that this would be zero. However, when counting you never start at zero, you start with one. So what say I hold up both hands with no fingers extended amd I'll call that ONE. Then the highest would be 1024 or 2^10. This is taking advantage of there being 1024 unique possibilities with 10 binary bits.

Once again, I'm not in dissagreement with your reply - just want to give you something else to ponder...

[flaninacupboard]

...a very intelligent and witty cross-dressing English stand-up comedian who describes himself as "a man trapped in a woman's body" (or something like that...).

Well worth going to see a show if you get the chance...

I think his actual words were "a lesbian trapped in a mans' body."
that and of course, being an action transvestite as a teenager, then growing up to be an executive transvestite (but NOT a ******* weirdo transvestite!)

the french describe him as a travesty.

[gll99]

Here's a much easier one:
The gold bracelet

A young man needs a place to stay for a week but only gets paid at the end of the week. The old lady landlord wants to be paid by the day and won't wait a week. She's had problems with people running out on her before and won't get caught again. The only thing of value that the young man has is a gold bracelet made up of seven loops linked together in a chain with a small clasp to close the bracelet. He could give her that and then buy it back at the end of the week. The bracelet is worth the value of the room for a week and the young man not trusting her either does not want to pay ahead and the lady won't accept less than one day's rent. She says she will accept one link of the bracelet each day as payment but she is concerned that the bracelet will lose value if damaged and adds one stipulation, the young man can only break the bracelet once. How can he not underpay or overpay on a daily basis with just one separation ?

Math and science teachers please wait a while before you respond. Phys-ed teachers can start now and can pm me for hints.


Just kidding

[northcat_8]

Math and science teachers please wait a while before you respond. Phys-ed teachers can start now and can pm me for hints.

Just kidding

[Doramius]

You ask the natives, "Am I on a road. Since you are and they say NO, then you know which way to go.

[gll99]

Doramius

You ask the natives, "Am I on a road. Since you are and they say NO, then you know which way to go.

I suppose that would tell you if they are a truth teller or a liar but it still wouldn't tell you the way to town since the road splits into 2 at the fork. It's only many, many miles later that one way leads you to a thick dangerous quicksand and snake infested jungle and it's getting dark soon(as in "pitch black can't see a foot in front of your face dark") .

One thing I should have mentionned is that you only get one question and then the native disappears.

[Tommyknocker]

Ask "Which way will the other native say is the road to town?". If it is the lying native he will point toward the jungle road, as will the truth-telling one. Simply take the opposite path.

[gll99]

Tommyknocker

Ask "Which way will the other native say is the road to town?". If it is the lying native he will point toward the jungle road, as will the truth-telling one. Simply take the opposite path.

There is only one native.

[Tommyknocker]

Tommyknocker

Ask "Which way will the other native say is the road to town?". If it is the lying native he will point toward the jungle road, as will the truth-telling one. Simply take the opposite path.

There is only one native.

Exactly. By inquiring what a native from the other tribe say which is the road to town, if you are addressing a lying native, he will point toward the jungle, because he will lie about the direction the truth-telling native will point.

If you are addressing a truth-telling native, he will also point to the jungle, because that is truly which way the lying native will point. Just take the opposite path.

"How is this a bad plan?"
-- Jacopo, from The Count of Monte Cristo

[gll99]

Tommyknocker

Exactly. By inquiring what a native from the other tribe say which is the road to town, if you are addressing a lying native, he will point toward the jungle, because he will lie about the direction the truth-telling native will point.

If you are addressing a truth-telling native, he will also point to the jungle, because that is truly which way the lying native will point. Just take the opposite path.

8) That could work except that the natives are all one big happy family of liars and truth tellers. They can't tell each other apart either.

[daamon]

Think about this: It would be normal to think, that if you held up both hands with no finger extended that this would be zero. However, when counting you never start at zero, you start with one. So what say I hold up both hands with no fingers extended amd I'll call that ONE. Then the highest would be 1024 or 2^10. This is taking advantage of there being 1024 unique possibilities with 10 binary bits.

Once again, I'm not in dissagreement with your reply - just want to give you something else to ponder...

You have a unique view of maths, my friend... Your original solution of 1024 is also near for the following reason: As there are 1024 combinations of 10 fingers (as you state) which, when using the binary counting system, range from 0 to 1023 (1024 numbers in total).

Your proposed method of counting is intriguing - kinda like "binary plus one". And, with the conditions you state, your statement is correct. However, apply this to counting in base 10 (normal counting), and two clenched fists would be "1", 1 finger raised would be "2" all the way up to 10 fingers raised being "11". Visually confusing... Though correct - as long as you remember the starting conditions.

My solution to the puzzle constrains itself to using one's digits with the binary counting system. That's the answer I was looking for.

You have interesting thinking though...

[ChrO]

New Puzzle: "9 Dots, 10 Lines"

You have to draw 9 dots on a flat sheet of paper such that 10 separate straight lines can be drawn, with each line covering exactly 3 dots. What is the arrangement of the dots?

This could be one solution...
[/img]

[daamon]

@ ChrO - "9 Dots, 10 Lines"

It certainly could. Though, being clinical, one could argue (and fairly, I'd say) that lines 1 & 2 are in fact just one line covering four dots. Same goes for lines 5 & 10... You'll see what I mean when you see the "tidier" solution I have.

That said, a bloody good effort - I had to be given the answer as it's very difficult (impossible) to even know where to begin...

To help (in recognition of your insightful attempt), I'll offer a clue: You're thinking is on the right track with regards to how you've arranged the dots (a basic shape with dots "inside"), but without overlapping lines. Your solution is (at a high level) triangular - this isn't the same regular shape as my solution...

Good luck...

[ChrO]

@ ChrO - "9 Dots, 10 Lines"

Your solution is (at a high level) triangular - this isn't the same regular shape as my solution...

Good luck...

A good triangle is better than "a bad circle"

I am looking forward to see the solution, i must overlook something...

[ChrO]

In accordance to some earlier posts, here is a mathematical prove, that 0.9 = 1, but there are no units in this! The only rule used is that
Round 0.999999 is fx 0.9

a = 0,9



10a = 9,9



10a - a = 9,9 - 0,9



9a = 9



9a /9 = 9 / 9



a = 1

What is wrong
Chr

[Doramius]

I think this came out of grade school, but I can't remember that far back. I barely remembered this Puzzle.
--
You have six glasses in one Row next to each other.
The first Three are filled with liquid. The last three are empty. By moving only ONE glass, make the row alternate full and empty glasses of liquid.
--

|-| |-| |-| |_| |_| |_|

This is the best I could do for a row of glasses without having to do an image file.

[northcat_8]

In accordance to some earlier posts, here is a mathematical prove, that 0.9 = 1, but there are no units in this! The only rule used is that
Round 0.999999 is fx 0.9

a = 0,9



10a = 9,9



10a - a = 9,9 - 0,9



9a = 9



9a /9 = 9 / 9



a = 1

What is wrong
Chr

technically .999999 (repeating) does =1. In order for 2 numbers to be different there has to exist a number between the 2 numbers, there exists no number between .999(repeating) and 1 therefore they are equal.

I had to do a mathematical proof in college on why 1.9999(repeating)=2, because my Math professor was a sadistical prick...it took me something like 8 pages

I know this is exactly opposite of my stance on the space being infinite thread a few weeks ago. I just thought I would throw that in, I don't have time to work on this one right now, "work" is almost over for today

Opps wait...I'll PM you my answer.

[ChrO]

I think this came out of grade school, but I can't remember that far back. I barely remembered this Puzzle.
--
You have six glasses in one Row next to each other.
The first Three are filled with liquid. The last three are empty. By moving only ONE glass, make the row alternate full and empty glasses of liquid.
--

|-| |-| |-| |_| |_| |_|

This is the best I could do for a row of glasses without having to do an image file.

Take glass number 2 and empty it out in glass number 5...?

[daamon]

A good triangle is better than "a bad circle"

I am looking forward to see the solution, i must overlook something...

northcat_8 has cracked it.

Some guidance: Re-read the question (just to get familiar). He started from a logical position, analyse the possibilities and then review your dot arrangement to meet the requirements...

[daamon]

This puzzle may or may not be solvable. The version I am presenting here is solvable because I omit 1 thing.



You must connect each service to each house by a solid line but it does not have to be straight. Each line can only go to one house and you must not cross any of your lines nor go through any other house to bring the service in. Have fun!

This one is hard!!!
I have solved it, but the last house needs a cell phone...

Yep, I've come to the same conclusion (needing a cell phone, as well as being hard!). Either it's impossible or there's something obvious / obtuse we're missing.

@ gll99 - I feel that, as it stands, it's impossible - It's possible to draw 8 lines, but this then cuts off either one of the houses or one of the utility suppliers so the final 9th line can't be drawn as per your rules.

Any clues?